Iran wanted to “do damage”, and Israel’s response this time may not be so restrained, BBC journalist Jeremy Bowen points out in an article.

When Iran attacked Israel last April, it appeared to be sending a “message” – but Iran actually notified the attack, as far as how it was carried out, and more or less the missiles and drones were shot down by Israeli and US defenses.

This time things were different. The Iranians looked like they wanted to inflict some serious damage, sending a much more aggressive message.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a statement saying it retaliated against the killings of senior leaders in Hamas and Hezbollah and warned that if Israel retaliated, they would retaliate in turn.

Last time, Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – “accept victory, don’t respond harshly” – and he didn’t. This time in Israel the mood is very different.

Indicative was the message of former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday night, who used very harsh language, saying “this is the biggest opportunity in 50 years to change the face of the Middle East.” He argued that Israel should strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in order to “mortally cripple this terrorist regime.”

Now he is not prime minister (although he is widely considered to be a future one, so he probably wanted to show that he is tough), but he reflects a certain mood in the country. One would not rule out attacks by Israel on anything right now – nuclear facilities, oil facilities, anything that could damage the Iranian economy.

The scenario has always been that Iran had a “front-heavy” defense in the form of Hezbollah in Lebanon, with a huge arsenal of sophisticated weapons that could, in theory, be used if Iran and its nuclear facilities were attacked. But in the past two weeks, Israel has “decapitated” the group, destroying half of its weapons, according to US and Israeli authorities. and invaded Lebanon.

The deterrent that Iran had, you could argue, has not just disappeared – it has been shattered into a thousand pieces. So I think the Israelis feel more free to act. And Joe Biden is taking another aircraft carrier fleet to the Mediterranean, signaling to the Iranians that “if you hit Israel, you’re hitting the US.”

That’s why people have been talking about the fear of war spreading: the instability, the turmoil that comes from everything that’s going on – we’re living it now, and that leaves very little room for diplomacy right now.